Editorial: No ifs, ands or butts about it

Friday, March 10, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.

Fewer Americans are smoking now than at any time since 1951, the National Association of Attorneys General said earlier this week, illustrating what one of the group's leaders said is "a tipping point, where the image of tobacco is that it's unhealthy and dangerous, and not glamorous like years ago."

According to The Washington Post, the nation's per capita consumption of tobacco has fallen to levels not exhibited since the early 1930s. Cigarette sales have declined 20 percent since states reached a legal settlement with tobacco companies in 1998. Sales in 2005 alone dropped 4.2 percent, the Post says, citing results of the association's report.

It is good news for the United States, where tobacco use causes more than 400,000 deaths annually, making it the nation's leading preventable cause of death. The National Association of Attorneys General report cites not only a shift in public perceptions about the dangers of smoking but also the rising costs of cigarettes and restrictions on cigarette advertising as reasons for the decline.

But state governments bear some financial costs because of declining cigarette sales and tobacco use. The amount of money available from the national tobacco settlement dwindles. In the 1998 settlement, four major cigarette companies agreed to pay states based on cigarette sales.

Nevada uses part of its tobacco money to fund Millennium Scholarships, which are awarded to Nevada high school graduates who attend state schools of higher education. But because of declining revenues, the state Legislature last year pared the full scholarships to partial ones.

State lawmakers who created the scholarship in 1999 knew - or should have known - this day would come. The tobacco settlement is set to expire in 2018. But its revenues should have been expected to decrease as a result of aggressive public campaigns to curb smoking.

Lawmakers should make provisions to support the scholarships beyond tobacco money, as it is one funding source that we should be relieved to lose.